The Lee football team’s coaching staff knows what defensive end Kaleb Nunez can do as a tight end and they’ve always planned to get him back into the offense as much as possible.

The Rebel coaches left it up to Nunez’ conditioning level to determine how much time he would see offensively. After his game against El Paso El Dorado last Friday, Nunez might begin to make catching passes more of a habit again.

“We want to get him in the game,” Lee head coach James Morton said. “He’s been a great force for us defensively, but we have to incorporate him into the offense. He’s got a green light. We want him in.”

Over Lee’s first three games, Nunez only caught one pass for 10 yards and only played in a couple of offensive series. But in his team’s 35-16 win against El Dorado, Nunez hauled in two passes for 47 yards in a critical scoring drive that gave the Rebels (2-2) a 21-3 lead on their first possession of the second half.

“It felt pretty good,” Nunez said. “I haven’t felt like that since sophomore year, making big plays. So to just get out there and make big plays like that, it gets me excited.”

Throughout the offseason, Nunez has said that he really enjoys playing defense and is especially fond of the physical freedom he now has to make plays. After switching to the position during the offseason, the senior has made playing defensive end his “niche,” as he called it, and he has really backed up that claim. So far, he is leading Lee in tackles (43), sacks (2), is second in tackles for a loss (6), and he has both forced and recovered a fumble.

Nunez played the entire first half of Friday’s win on defense and, thanks to a few extended Aztec drives, spent quite a bit of time on the field. But he said he felt fresh enough to come out on offense early in the second half and he returned to his old ways of being a steady and reliable target for the quarterback.

Nunez said he didn’t feel all that tired and was able to handle the extra stress on his body pretty well. He said he wanted to do everything in his power to help his team pick up a big home win.

“I didn’t feel that bad playing offense, because that’s something I like to do,” Nunez said. “It was just something inside of me that pushed me harder, even though I was still exhausted. But it’s for the team, so you’ve got to do everything you can.”

Lee head coach James Morton said he wanted to use Nunez as a tight end in the game against Southlake Carroll two weeks ago. But he didn’t get a chance to get him in the game in key situations as the Rebels quickly fell behind in that loss.

So Morton approached Nunez about the opportunity to play more offensively against El Dorado and said the senior responded well.

“He’s been practicing really hard. I brought him in here on Monday and I drew up our tight end position and I said ‘Hey, this is our tight end and you’d probably be a good tight end.’ I just gave him a hard time about it and said, ‘Would you want to do something like that?’ and he said, ‘Yes, coach, yes.’”

As he is now a defense first player, Nunez said trying to play both ways against an up tempo offense is challenging. But he expects that he’ll see more action on offense this week when the Rebels take on Abilene Cooper, a team that presents a much different look offensively than El Dorado did.

“These next couple of games, Abilene Cooper, they’re slower tempo,” Nunez said. “So I think I’ll be able to play a little bit more (on offense) these next couple of games.”

Follow Will on Twitter: @Will_MRT

Lee MVPs

Offense

Tony Jones, Sr., RB

Jones ran the ball 11 times for 117 yards and a touchdown in Lee’s 35-16 win against the Aztecs. Just over a minute into the fourth quarter, he zipped through a hole and scored on a 50-yard run right up the middle. Jones also caught a pass for 16 yards.

Defense

Dedrick Strambler, Sr., DB

Strambler recorded eight total tackles and an interception return for 28 yards against El Dorado.

Special Teams

Taye Britt, Jr., Kick returner/WR

Britt returned an El Dorado kick off for 55 yards to set up Lee’s first possession of the game last Friday. He also caught two passes for 37 yards in the win.

Rebel Yells

-- Morton said that his team handled the two and a half-hour lightning delay before the El Dorado game very well. He said the team was focused and used the extra time before the game productively to both prepare and also to stay relaxed. There was no evidence of a prolonged letdown either, as Lee was able to score 35 points and hold a very strong offense down.

“One thing you always control is your attitude about things,” Morton said. “You don’t necessarily control what happens, but how you respond to it. That’s a common theme in our program, is bouncing back and I thought our kids did a great job. They came in still business like for the first 30, 45 minutes (of the lightning delay). I told them it was going to be a lot longer delay. So we had some position meetings, ended up having them (the Lee players) get off their feet and ended up watching a movie for a little while.”

-- Lee sophomore Luis Aranda, a soccer player who is now handling extra point duties for the Rebels, said he has been adjusting well to life as a football player. After converting all five of his extra point opportunities against the Aztecs, Aranda said he believes he’s settled in. “It’s crazy,” Aranda said. “I like it though. It’s a different atmosphere than soccer. I’ve actually been waiting for that long field goal to test my ability.”

One of Aranda’s extra points against El Dorado took a wild course through the uprights. He kicked the ball straight but it was low and hit the official square in the face. After deflecting off the official’s face the ball hit the cross bar and bounced over through the uprights.

-- Injury Report: Senior defensive tackle Ryan Dean did not play in the El Dorado game after suffering a shoulder injury in the game against Southlake Carroll. Morton said Dean is doubtful for the Cooper game, but could be back in time for the start of district play on Oct. 9 at Odessa Permian. ...Senior linebacker Tyler Thames is making progress in his rehab of a right knee injury which he sustained in the season opener. But he too is still doubtful to return before the Permian game.